Resist My Charm

The title of this post refers to one of the many anagrams formed with the "Merry Christmas" letter blocks that have graced our kitchen window sill this holiday season. Here's another:

Forrest wants me to point out an anagram he's particularly proud of, one that uses every single "Merry Christmas" letter block (and is therefore, in his words, a "bingo"): "Cram it, Ms. Sherry." Not particularly Christmassy, but the phrase has a certain je ne sais quoi. There are many many others, as the Christmas blocks are rearranged at least a couple of times a day during the month of December, but this post is not about anagrams of Merry Christmas, but of an actual Merry Christmas. The one at our house!

(Ethan just said to me: "Hey Mom, when are you going to write the blog post about Christmas that makes you sound a little more enthusiastic about everything than you actually are?" Ah, my son.)

So here we go! Enthusiastically!

The family, gathered around ye old dinner table, ready to partake of our traditional Christmas Eve meal, one taken from my childhood and slightly altered: breaded shrimp (popcorn for the little kids, big guys for the big ones), macaroni and cheese, and -- the Hallstrom family addition -- scones with butter and honey. Mmmmm. We had pineapple too, and a couple bottles of Martinelli's. Mui delicioso!

Then we had our Christmas eve program:

Elise, strumming away

Jonas whistling (he left his trumpet at school -- ahem) and Wyatt clicking. They're talented kids, I tell you. I'm thinking of enrolling Wyatt in a Suzuki-method school for prodigy clickers.

Wyatt singing a Christmas song from his preschool program

Ethan reading the Christmas story from Luke.

The kids in front of the "family presents," the ones they get to open on Christmas Eve.

 Speaking of opening "family presents" on Christmas Eve: I remember being so excited/anxious about opening those presents that I could barely contain myself during the obligatory Christmas Eve Program portion of the evening. Oh, the exquisite torture of waiting!

And now, two pictures of Ethan opening up the aforementioned family presents, mostly because they're kind of hilarious:

Thanks for the scarf, Mindy!

And Grandma! Subway AND iTunes? What 15 year old boy could ask for anything more?

Then we shooed the kids off to bed and finished wrapping presents and arranging them under the tree. I love (love love love) looking at a tree with presents piled underneath, everything dark except for the glow of Christmas lights. Oh, it's my favorite!

We got to bed at a reasonable hour, but then at 4:45 we heard trampling in the hall -- the kids going to check out the tree, of course. Didn't you guys do that when you were young too? (I think I even did it when I was 17.) But I could still hear them talking and shuffling around in their room at 5:15 and had to go in and lay down the law (and make Wyatt get in his own bed) so everybody could get at least a little sleep. Then, at 6:45, our bedroom door opened and Wyatt said, "Hey Mom? I don't mean to bother you, but . . . I don't know if it's seven o'clock?"

We gave the kid a break and got up fifteen minutes early.

The obligatory "Top of the Stairs" photo. Everyone always looks a little pale and stunned in this picture. It's a tradition.

Wyatt, holding up a new Wii game

Ethan, enjoying the dulcet tones as Elise tries out her new guitar.

Imaginext! Created by people who know how to get 4 year olds to persuade their parents that they reaaally need one more plastic castle-type play thingie. A new one every year!

Jonas's remote control helicopter. A big hit with all the men in the house.

Forrest, demonstrating a proper bow hunting stance, as well as proper bow hunting crazy eyes.

And more weaponry. This gun was a $14.99 impulse buy the day before Christmas, and I think it's been Wyatt's favorite gift.

Elise, modeling a new Christmas sweater.

Although part of me was dreading getting ready for church at 10 a.m., it turned out to be really nice. Since we didn't have any family to visit (or visit us), it gave us a reason to get dressed and head out and mingle with humanity. And there was some beautiful Christmas music on the program too.

We were running five minutes late, as usual, but I still made everybody pose for a picture before we left. Here's Forrest's attempt:

Then I came downstairs and made them do it right:

Wyatt hated his sweater. Hated the argyle, hated the itchiness, hated how high his pants were. He humored me, though, and wore it to church at least once. Look how nicely they all match! Ethan told me I should just use this picture for next year's Christmas card. Ha. How little the boy knows me.

We came home from church, changed into our comfy (non-matchy) clothes, and hung out, ate, played games, etc. etc., long into the evening. A little after 9:00 p.m. we found Wyatt on the couch:

A satisfying end to a satisfying day.

We had a lovely Christmas, but missed seeing all of you. Maybe next year somebody will come see us! (You know you want to travel to Minnesota in the dead of winter! C'mon!)

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas as well. Here's to one more week of sleeping in! Happy Holidays!